


mikleos uhhhhhh gay

by pittoo



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Au: animal shelter, M/M, au: modern
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-20 21:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11343576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pittoo/pseuds/pittoo
Summary: im lactose intolerant and everyone tells me soy milk is disgusting but i know the truth





	mikleos uhhhhhh gay

**Author's Note:**

> im writing a horrible terrible longfic about these two and the burn is so slow that i needed to take a moment to write something horrendously gay before i started screaming. if you listen real close you might be able to hear me screaming anyway

Mikleo doesn’t even _like_ animals, not really. They shed hair everywhere and make lots of noise and they smell. To each their own, he always says, whatever floats other people’s proverbial boats, but he simply can’t wrap his head around the reasoning behind _anyone_ willingly picking up another creatures faeces or kissing the face of one that would probably eat said faeces, given the chance.

So why, he asks himself, is he at the animal shelter _again_?

It shouldn’t be a thing that he does, he tells himself even as he walks through the door. He should really just give it up and go home, he presses when he walks up to the receptionist. There really is no reason at all for him to be here when the sound of dogs barking makes his chest do awful flips like he’s going to have a heart attack any moment, he’s reminding himself, all while talking to the girl behind the counter.

It’s then that he’s allowed into the back where all the animals are kept and he meets eyes with the cute boy that works here that, ah, he remembers  _exactly_ why this is the third time he’s shown up at the shelter this month.

It’s _bad_. He knows it is. He _knows_ he’s never, ever going to get a pet and he shouldn’t get any of these animals hopes up, nor that of the staff that keep pressing different animals on to him, like he might finally decide _yes, this is the one for me, I will absolutely accept this animal into my life and never return to this animal shelter for now I have the perfect pet._ Nope, that won’t be happening any time soon, he’s sure of that. Something _else_ that he does know is that the guy that works here on weekdays (all of them except wednesday – not that he’d perused the work rota pinned to the noticeboard or anything) has really, really nice arms, and dammit if Mikleo wasn’t as liable to think with his dick as any other guy his age.

“Hi again!” The worker greets. Mikleo doesn’t need to look at his nametag to know his name.

“Hello, Sorey.” Mikleo nods curtly back at him, acting like the jack russell terrier to his right is the most interesting thing in the world. It yaps and he immediately hates it.

“Thought any more about who you’d like to adopt?” Sorey asks, green eyes bright and sparkling and hopeful. Oh, how Mikleo hates this. He’s going to crush this hot boy’s dreams again in favour of coming back another day just to look at him. It’s sad, really; Mikleo hates himself just a little for it. Sorey clearly really loves these animals and wants them to find a good home, and here’s Mikleo only here on the off chance Sorey offers himself up for adoption.

Mikleo hadn't even meant to come here the first time. He'd only come because his, quote unquote, good friend Edna wanted a dog to fill the void Eizen had left when he moved out and had wanted a second opinion on which of two pomeranians were cuter. She went home with both and Mikleo went home with a giant, stupid crush and he still hates her for it. He knows he doesn't have a chance - he doesn't even know if Sorey is interested in men, for God's sake, and even if he was that's not a promise that he's single or finds short, skinny albinos with a haircut that looks like he just found out MCR broke up sexy.

"I'm not sure if any of the animals I've seen are right for me," Mikleo says, tactically. It isn't a lie. 

Sorey hums; he looks disappointed, but Mikleo can tell he's thinking, can practically see the gears moving in his cute, perfect little head. He can see it in the way he brings a hand up to scratch his head, mussing up the brown curls on his head, in the way his thick brows furrow and make his nose scrunch up adorably. "Maybe you're not looking at the right animals. Instead of a dog, why don't you think about looking at the cats? You've never expressed a preference before, have you?"

Ah, cats. Mikleo has always wanted a companion that would bring him dead things as presents. "Maybe. Mind letting me having a look?"

Sorey brightens. "Of course! Come with me, I'll show you all the kitties we have right now! I have a good feeling about it, y'know. I bet you'll find someone for you in there."

Mikleo hates how sincere he sounds and how it makes his heart thump harder. Curse Sorey and his boyish charm and perfect hair. Curse him and his unabashed, sincere, selfless love for animals Mikleo just wished he gave more shits about if only to connect with the love of his life on a deeper level.

As it goes, he  _does_ prefer cats to dogs. Dogs are legitimately terrifying - they bark at him in the street and jump up at him and one time his friend Zaveid's labrador humped his leg for, like, ten minutes. A cat has never actually wronged him personally. No, he does like cats, in a way; not enough to  _want_ one, but he can tolerate their presence well enough. Lailah has three cats and he's pet all of them plenty of times. It's more that... He'd rather appreciate them from afar. He liked to keep a respectable distance between himself and animals, and cats, for the most part, seemed to think the same about people, though he wished he were better able to predict them. Once Lailah's ragdoll had scratched him for looking at it.

"This little guy is Munchkin," He's snapped back to reality by the sound of Sorey's voice. He's wiggling his finger through the bars of a cage, attracting the attention of a boisterous little black-and-white kitten which immediately attacked his finger. "Might seem like we're all into the sob stories here, but he's just the runt of the litter and the breeders don't have the space to keep him. You'll be going to a new home pretty soon, won't you, little guy?"

Mikleo doesn't miss the hopeful look Sorey shoots in his direction as he says it, and has to force himself to look interested. "I would feel bad," he starts, "taking home a kitten when there's probably cats that have been waiting a lot longer. They go quite quick, don't they?"

He's definitely said the right thing, he thinks triumphantly, because Sorey nods enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's true. The little guys go within the month, honestly. There's two here that have been waiting to be adopted since I started working here two years ago." 

"Really," Mikleo hums, watching Sorey play with the kitten a little longer. He thinks that he wouldn't mind having a cat if they lived together; he wouldn't have to look after it, and he could watch the way Sorey played with it as much as he wanted, and listen to that sweet voice he used whenever he was talking directly to an animal. He sighs wistfully.

"Would you like to meet them?" Sorey asks, meeting Mikleo's gaze again. "They're really sweet cats, I promise!"

Mikleo doubts it if they've been here two years, but he nods anyway. "Why not?"

Enthusiastic as ever, Sorey takes hold of Mikleo's wrist - he wants to die at how his heart rate picks up and his face warms just because Sorey is touching him, but dammit, he'll let himself have this if nothing else - and pulls him towards one of the larger cages. Mikleo peeks at the clipboard attached to the cage as Sorey crouches, making that clicking noise people use when they want to attract an animals attention. Mikleo always used to think it was pretty dumb, but of course his gay ass loves it when this guy does it. His gay ass would probably manage to find Sorey screaming at the top of his lungs attractive, somehow.

He swallows, turning his attention back to the board.  _Teddy and Nimbus_ , the board reads under  _name_. Approximately four years old, both of them. Former pets of an elderly couple, together since they were kittens.

"They were brought here together," Sorey explains, grinning wide when a huge, fluffy brown tabby cat rubbed itself against the bars where Sorey was resting his fingers. Mikleo is a little startled at how  _big_ the cat is; it's bigger than some of the dogs over in the other side of the shelter, though he wonders how much of it is fur. "They didn't take well to being seperated, so..." Sorey frowned, scratching the cats nose. "We're not gonna let them be separated. That's why they haven't been adopted yet."

"That's sad," Mikleo says, carefully. The cat seems friendly enough, and it doesn't attack fingers like the kitten does. For a moment Mikleo forgets that he isn't here to  _actually_ select a cat to take home, but then, he considers, it might be best to believe his own act. If only to convince Sorey, he reasons. "He seems lovely."

"This is Teddy," Sorey smiles, opening up the door to the cage and scooping the huge cat up. It seems effortless when Sorey does it, but then, the guy is ripped. Mikleo has daydreamed about whatever rippling muscles might be hiding under his work shirt on more than one occasion, but for now, he appreciates the muscles on his forearms - or at least, what he can see from underneath the masses of fur. "He's super friendly! Nimbus is a little shy, but if you let him see that Teddy likes you, he'll come out of his shell a bit. Want to hold him?"

Mikleo isn't sure if he  _can_. He nods anyway, reaching out as if to take the cat, hoping to God he doesn't make a fool of himself and immediately drop it. That, and he doesn't want the cat to get mad for dropping him and start attacking his legs. When Sorey grins back at him with wide green eyes, he notes that Teddy is looking at him with the exact same expression. For the first time, he looks at this cat and thinks for a second he might actually  _want_ it. He feels almost guilty that he would select a pet because it reminds him of his crush, messy hair and eager smiles aside.

To his surprise the cat isn't too heavy when Sorey passes him over - Mikleo still almost drops him, besides, but that's because Sorey's skin brushes against his and he goes jelly-limbed for a second.

"Be good for Mikleo, hey, Teddy?" Sorey is saying in his animal-voice, scratching the huge tabby's chin. The cat meows. "If you're good he might take you home, huh? Want that, Teddy?"

Mikleo can  _feel_ when the huge animal starts to purr, it's entire body vibrating with the sheer force of it. He sounds like a motorcycle, or maybe a plane taking off. Mikleo is astonished that this is supposed to be a sound that signifies contentment - yet, somehow, he finds himself drawn to the sound. He likes that Teddy seems to think he's a pretty OK guy and is giving him the ultimate seal of kitty approval to prove it. 

"He definitely likes you," Sorey laughs, and it's a beautiful sound. Just like he keeps scratching the cats chin to keep hearing it purr, he wants to keep making Sorey laugh. "He's an excellent judge of character, by the way. It's why Nimbus trusts him so much."

The second cat emerges from the cage as if summoned. Sorey crouches to get his attention, and Mikleo follows suit. It's initially hard to get a good look at him through the mass that is Teddy - Sorey seems to notice, though, and to Mikleo's relief takes the cat from him. Mikleo was starting to get fur up his nose.

The newcomer is pretty cute, he admits. The other cat is a lot smaller, practically half Teddy's size, with much shorter, sleeker fur. Contrasting the dark tabby of his companion, Nimbus was a pure, untainted white with huge blue eyes and a cute pink nose. Mikleo forgets to be surprised that he just thought of an animal as cute.

"Nimbus is actually blind," Sorey tells Mikleo, taking hold of his wrist to extend his arm out towards the cat. "Let him smell you before you touch him, okay?"

Mikleo nods, reaching his fingers out towards the cat. He looks soft, he notes, much better groomed than some of the other cats in the shelter. Glancing to his side, he realises Teddy is, too; he wonders if they get extra time given to them to be groomed by the staff. 

Nimbus tentatively sniffs around Mikleo's hand. He must smell like Teddy, Mikleo realises, smiling softly when the cat butts his head into his palm. "He's sweet," Mikleo says, if only to see the way Sorey smiles at him as he watches him play with Nimbus.

It's very suddenly and all at once that Mikleo realises Sorey hadn't once let go of his arm until he'd started stroking the cat.

"I really love these two," Sorey sighs wistfully, running his fingers through Teddy's thick fur. Impressively, the cat hadn't stopped purring. "I've wanted to take them home myself for so long, y'know? My landlord doesn't let us have animals, though."

Sorey, Mikleo thinks, it must be Sorey who spends extra time with them. It's endearing to think about; of course Sorey would give extra attention to a pair of _cats_ of all the things out of the kindness of his heart, because he couldn't stand the injustice of two sweet cats waiting two years to be adopted. "Won't it be sad for you when they get adopted, then?"

"Maybe not so," Sorey is smiling again; it's directed straight at Mikleo. It's too much to look at directly, as if looking for too long will make Mikleo go blind; he looks away in favour of redirecting his own small smile to Nimbus. "I'd like them to have a nice forever home, even if it's not with me. Though it would be nice to visit them time to time."

"I don't see why that would be a problem," Mikleo says, lifting his hand slightly and smiling when Nimbus reaches up on his hind legs to keep nuzzling his head against it. It's cute, watching this shy cat grow increasingly brave just to chase some fleeting affection. Me too, Nimbus, Mikleo thinks, me too. "I certainly wouldn't have a problem with it."

"Really?" Sorey's eyes light up; his grin is so wide and sincere that Mikleo finds himself quietly praying that he never, ever sees him frown again. He'd give a lot of things to get to see that genuine smile every day of his life. It makes him feel dizzy to think about. "You think - yeah?"

"Of course," Mikleo meets his gaze properly, absently scratching behind Nimbus' ear. "You clearly care about them a lot. It wouldn't be fair to say you couldn't see them again."

"So you'll take them? And I can come visit?"

Mikleo freezes.  _Oh_. 

He can see why Sorey came to that conclusion. He had, accidentally of course, made it sound like he was considering it. Panicking, he blurted out the first, most honest truth he could think of.

"Yes."

 

 

Mikleo yawns, rolling over to whack his alarm clock off. Bitterly, he notes that it's a monday and he has work. He'd had a lazy weekend and it felt criminal to end that so suddenly, especially when he felt so  _sleepy_. Reluctantly he shifted, swinging his legs off the side of the bed and rubbing at his eyes.

There's two warm bodies immediately brushing up against his legs. Mikleo peeks down fondly, immediately met with four giant, affectionate eyes; two green, two blue. They blink slowly up at him, and he slowly blinks back.

As reluctant as he'd been to get a pet, he doesn't think he's made any decision in his life better than adopting Teddy and Nimbus. His once empty home felt so much more lived in when they moved in; instead of waking up alone, he woke up to furry bodies curled up next to him. Instead of going about his morning routine in silence, he listened to the soft meows and purrs of the two creatures he had, miraculously, come to call his friends.

And, of course, there was the one  _other_ thing.

Just as he moved to stand up off the bed, a pair of arms wormed their way around his stomach, tugging him back into bed.

"Call in sick," says a drowsy, sleep-heavy voice, and Mikleo smiles.

"I'm not sick, though," he says, but he lies back down anyway. He's tugged into a warm chest and met with an indignant grumble.

He reaches around his partner's neck, tugging him down so their lips meet, and he's content. "Five more minutes?" He bargains, nudging a leg with his toes.

"Five more hours," is the response he gets.

"Sorey," he whines, though he has absolutely no quarrel with being held tighter against a warm body. "You're impossible."

"Mm." All he gets for that is a nose nudging into his hair. Mikleo concedes - not that he put up much of a fight, he thinks, but he never can with Sorey.

"You're going to make me lose my job." It's an empty threat. 

"Jus' be my stay at home cat wife," Sorey drawls. Mikleo would be lying if he said that sleepy Sorey wasn't the cutest thing he'd ever heard, and he'd listened to Sorey talk while he was awake.

Mikleo laughs, and he feels Sorey smile into his hair in response to it. "Cat  _husband_ , thank you very much." 

As if summoned from the aether, both cats hopped up onto the bed to curl up between the two of them. Just as he reaches down to scratch behind Teddy's head, so too does Sorey; their hands meet in the middle, fingers lacing together and resting over fur.

"I'm very glad you took them home," Sorey says, soft, nuzzling further into Mikleo's hair. His breathing slows, as if he is falling back into sleep. Mikleo lets him; he knows that he won't be going anywhere today. 

"You, too?" Mikleo asks, playful. He closes his eyes, bringing their joined palms up to his lips.

"Yeah," Sorey laughs, and their legs tangle. "I'm glad you took me home, too."

 

**Author's Note:**

> FOR the record i worked at an animal shelter myself and i love dogs more than anything else in this world and it physically hurt to write from the perspective of someone who hates them like what
> 
> i havent written in a long time!!! im rusty bad


End file.
